Barun Kumar Sinha

Deptt. Of EnglishS.S.College- Hailakandi

Bisnupriya Manipuris are, a constituent of the conglomeration of diverse ethnic groups in the Barak Valley. Officially, they are a linguistic minority. There are as many as 146 villages in the valley and population in rural areas was 66,623 in 1967. Curiously enough, figures published in 1961 census were totally incorrect. Social workers undertook, in protest, to conduct census, which revealed, tidy certified by t-he respective Village panchyats, the actual above - mentioned figures. Coming to the closing decade of the century the figure would be around one and half lakhs. Indeed this community has suffered diminution at every stage of its historical evoludon.A quick look at its remote and recent past will hope , not be out of place here.

By: Chandra Kanta Singha

Gokulananda Gitiswami is a name deeply cherished by the Bishnupriya Manipuri people. There are practically few persons in the community who may not know his name. A versatile genius as he was, he was a dramatist, a poet, a wondering minstrel and above all a social reformer. His life bears testimony to all these high qualities of head and heart which can be found only in a few gifted persons.

Gakulananda was a multifaceted personality. A farsighted person as he was he could understand that the backwardness of the people of his community was due to lack of modern education. He, therefore, exhorted the Bishnupriya Manipuris to keep pace with the demands of time. A very conservative peple as Bishnupriya Manipuris were at that time, most of the people did not go for modern education for fear of losing the purity of caste.